Recording - September 2017 - 52

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"Oh, you can play it." So I started playing one of my
songs and he's like, "Did you write this?" And I said,
"Yeah." He said that he had a studio and said that I
should demo the song. At that time I was like,
"What's a demo?" I knew nothing.
How old were you?
I think I was 12. So we ended up recording this
demo, and I just was so fascinated by the studio. He
kind of laughed, because most people just do their
session and they're ready to leave. I enjoyed the
whole process, so I would sit down next to him and
just watch him mix. We wouldn't even talk for
hours, and I would just watch everything he was
doing on Pro Tools. Once in a while, I would ask a
question, but I just thought it was so fascinating.
So that song turned into a whole album. I finished
it in my sophomore year of high school. It was just
a great learning experience. Then after that, I kind
of stopped the whole process. I went to college; I
got married. Then that producer contacted me and
said, "Hey, I was just thinking about you the other
day. I think you should join a thing called TAXI; you
should look it up." So I looked it up and I thought,
well, OK, but I think it was still a couple of years
before I joined TAXI. I started watching TAXI TV. It
was just really cool, because we didn't have a lot of
money and it was just an amazing education. I didn't have to go to school for the audio engineering,
but I was learning production stuff, learning things
about the industry, how to network, so many topics. So once I joined TAXI, that really gave me a
focus. I could look at the listings and say, "OK, I'll
try and write for this."
It was kind of funny because I had been a member
for about two months and I submitted a song and it
got forwarded. It was this really simple acoustic
song. I didn't have any equipment at all, so because
we didn't have a lot of money-it was kind of
ridiculous because I'm this adult married woman-
I was doing odd jobs just to try and buy a
computer, and mowing lawns. So I ended up buying a 2009 iMac-it had GarageBand on it-and
that's where I started. Then I saved up a little more
and got Pro Tools, because that's what I had
remembered using.
I just kind of learned and figured it out, and I didn't
really have a lot of resources, so I would check out
the TAXI Forum and kind of creep on other people's questions. Then I started asking questions
myself, and everyone was just so helpful, I was
amazed at the community. They don't make you
feel silly for not knowing something; they're just
like, "OK, here's where you are. We'll help you." So I
just felt like so many people that I had never met
put me under their wings, and it was all taking
place online.
52

I ended up recording my own song and I got forwarded by TAXI, and I thought, wow, this is easy.
That was the only song that got forwarded for like
the next year. [laughter]
We've never heard this story before...
But I learned so much from the feedback I got from
the returns. And now I'm at the point where mostly
everything I submit is forwarded, and recently I
submitted something and I was actually kind of
bummed that it got forwarded, because I was waiting for the feedback. I wanted to learn something.
But, yeah, it's been a really cool journey, and then
everything, of course, changes when you come to
Rally and you meet all these people. But I think that
knowing production has opened up so many doors.
Even artists that are light years more talented that
me, I have an advantage because I speak the language. I can talk to a producer and make a
suggestion on a mix. It gives me a tool and an edge.
One thing I really like is that it gives me a chance to
be creative. I don't have to stick with one avenue. Of
course, it's important to have your one area and
focus on that and not get too distracted. But I do
like to do different things and challenge myself, so if
I didn't know production, I couldn't just do an
instrumental cue really quickly if I have an extra
hour.
Recently-I thought it was awesome-there was
this really random listing for a solo flute instrumental, and I had played flute in band for three or four
years in high school. I saw that and I thought I'm
going to try and get some constructive criticism. So
I dug the flute out of the garage and I tried to play
some scales and learn and looked at the YouTube
video on how to mic a flute. I just figured it out, and
I got forwarded. It was so random, but I was really
happy. Wouldn't it be funny if that was my big
break or something?
I love the fact that I know enough about production
that I can do that. Yeah, that's kind of my story. I've
gotten some placements now, and now I'm signed
to some libraries...
So that's a little footnote. You kind of went from,
"And I was just starting out ... and I got some placements." That's why I asked you to be on the panel.
Because I've seen your developmental arc go fairly
quickly, and you didn't stay pigeonholed as just a
singer/songwriter.
You know what I'm getting from this conversation is
learning production takes you out of a prison. It gives
you freedom, and that is the point of this panel. I
want everybody in the ballroom to have the freedom
to do what you want to do. As I've said to C.K. many
times on the phone... A few times I've heard this:
"I've got to wait for my boyfriend/husband/producer/
boyfriend/husband to come home before I can redo
that vocal," and it made my shoulders get tight.
Nobody should have to wait for anybody to do any-

thing that you want to do in the studio. And that's
the story you're telling.
Yeah. Another blessing of that is there's income
that I have received because I know how to do this
stuff. I do work-for-hires now. I do acoustic guitar
and vocals for people all over the world. It's been a
huge blessing that I can work with people in any
country. It's just tremendous freedom just to be
able to do that.
That's what this panel is about ... freedom.
[applause]
Doug, what's your story? They know why you're up
here, so you don't have to...
I'll gloss over things then. Always obsessed with
music, as I'm sure everybody else in this room is.
We all feel the same way about it-it touches us
and moves us in ways that other things just can't
compete. It's important to recognize that at an early
age, and I started playing saxophone at the age of
10 in school bands. I was lucky enough to discover
that I wanted to go into production at age 17, and I
discovered that by reading liner notes. This was in
the '90s; I'm a '80s, '90s kid. So reading liner notes
is pretty much how I discovered what I wanted to

"If you don't jump up and grab
something that you want, somebody
else is going to come and get it."
-Doug Fenske
do. Then I went off to college for something not
music-related. Not really to reflect on my mother,
but kind of at the advice of my mother: "You can
go into music, but go get a degree first." So I did,
and I went to Eastern Illinois University. So I played
in a few bands, and really started diving into writing as the band broke up. There were never creative
differences, ever, right? I finished up there and I
went back home and worked for a little while at a
hardware store called Minards in Chicago. Then I
went to recording school at the Conservatory of
Recording Arts and Sciences and got my technical
chops ups in engineering, because I had been
involved in performances up until that point. And
from there I went off and started my internship at
Westlake Recording Studios. I accelerated quickly
through the internship, runner, assistant engineering-kind of path and route there at Westlake, pretty
much faster than anyone in recent memory, and
that's because I have a higher amount of drive than
other people, to be quite frank.
And that's why I would like to stress to you guys
that these people may be your friends-and they
should be treated as such with respect-but in the
back of your mind you should always remember if
you don't jump up and grab something that you
want, somebody else is going to come get it real
quick. You have to the drive to be able to beat
everyone out to get it. If you want it the most,
you've got to go get it, and I did that. I did that
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